Distance Learning – Online Schools

Modern education has become diversified, with many variations and specializations on each and every field of work, available in various universities, colleges and training institutions all over the world today. Prospective students have a variety of options when it comes to picking courses and the institutions which offer them, however, the opportunity cost of education, especially for working students and those who support families, is high. Education is expensive and time consuming and students must spend additional money for accommodation and transportation (to commute to and from lectures and study sessions), as well as the time required to be spent in going to and attending classes and lectures. Distance learning, or e-learning, is the answer to all of these problems and offers students a viable alternative to traditional classroom based study.

Overview

Prospective students can now choose online and blended courses (where a small percentage of the coursework and assessments are completed in face-to-face environments while the majority are completed online) in order to schedule and balance educational activities with their work and family / social schedules. Students can now learn at any level (from certifications and training courses to associates, Bachelors, Masters or PhD degrees) completely online and from the comfort of their own homes - at whichever timings best suiting their schedules. Learners can choose from a variety of online schools which offer distance learning programs for students anywhere in the world and manage to gain certifications and complete online degree courses while their normal lives remain largely unaffected. E-learning degrees and certificates are just the same as traditional ones, allow you to work on your own schedule and help you save the time for your work and family or friends and also help you save on the cost of commuting and renting accommodation.

Modern Trends in E-Learning

Some of the latest trends in e-learning are carrying the distance learning trend into the new age of education. Students are likely to encounter most of these in any online course they pick, and they are designed to make learning as student-friendly as can be.

Mobile technologies

Mobile technologies will integrate learning solutions in the near future. This means that software and components for mobile phones will allow students to attend live-classrooms and access resource material for their studies using PDF's and cellular phones. This will aide students, especially those who work-on-the-move or live in rural areas, to connect to e-classrooms and libraries using their GSM-WAP phone services.

Simulation based learning

Software solutions like Flash etc make it easy to 'podcast' simulations over the internet to show processes and techniques to students as audiovisual demonstrations - which are beneficial to the learning process and which had previously been a part of traditional classroom learning only.

Adaptive learning environments

Adaptive learning environments are those which can be used to customize and 'individualize' the learning experience of student in accordance with their own preferences and styles of study. These electronic systems gain knowledge of a student's learning behavior, weaknesses and strengths and take in account the students personal preferences (relating to learning methods, time and resource requirements) and configure and reconfigure the learning system to make the learning experience easy and effective for a particular student.

References:

Wikipedia (research)
TRENDS IN E-LEARNING - PDF (research); www[dot]codewitz[dot]net/papers/MMT_106-111_Trends_in_E-Learning.pdf
www[dot]linezine[dot]com/2.1/features/ewette.htm

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